Every Season

I wrote this blog a year ago and posted it on my temporary blog site. Here it is in its second edition. The first edition was titled ‘Autumn’. But, as I am completing this second draft, I feel that a more suitable title is ‘Every Season’.

I’m not a fan of autumn. I don’t like that the days are getting shorter, wetter and colder. But I’m trying to embrace it.

Rather than focusing on how cold and dark the days are becoming, I am trying to notice the beauty of the season.

Beautiful orange, gold and brown tones start to fill our walks in the park and the forestry.

The shorter days mean more opportunities to watch the sunset on the beach.

As the evenings become cooler, I enjoy the comfort of the dancing flames and warmth of the log stove.

When the weekends are too wet for us to walk, I take the opportunity to bake a cake or make an apple and blackberry crumble, using fruit harvested from our allotment.

Autumn is more about change than the end of things.

September means the start of the new term at school, college or university. Working as a learning coach in the sixth form of a large secondary school, I help the new year 12 students to settle into further education. Many are excited, some are nervous and others are uncertain.
In a way, autumn is a reminder that, although there are uncertainties, change can be beautiful and holds promise for new opportunities ahead. This year I am even more aware of this than ever. Now that both Mum and Dad have gone, I feel like I am saying goodbye to my childhood. This is truly the toughest autumn that I have been through, but I am looking for the beauty in it and the new opportunities ahead.

Without autumn, there can be no winter and if there is no winter, there can be no spring. Every season, no matter how harsh, is necessary to make way for the next season. There’s no skipping autumn and winter in order to get to spring more quickly. So here I am, daily accepting this fact and embracing the season.
These words from Nicole Nordeman capture it perfectly:

Every evening sky, an invitation
To trace the patterned stars
And early in July, a celebration
For freedom that is ours
And I notice You in children’s games
In those who watch them from the shade
Every drop of sun is full of fun and wonder
You are summer

And even when the trees have just surrendered
To the harvest time
Forfeiting their leaves in late September
And sending us inside
Still I notice You when change begins
And I am braced for colder winds
I will offer thanks for what has been and what’s to come
You are autumn

And everything in time and under Heaven
Finally falls asleep
Wrapped in blankets white, all creation
Shivers underneath
And still I notice You when branches crack
And in my breath on frosted glass
Even now in death, You open doors for life to enter
You are winter

And everything that’s new has bravely surfaced
Teaching us to breathe
And what was frozen through is newly purposed
Turning all things green
So it is with You and how You make me new
With every season’s change
And so it will be as You are re-creating me
Summer, autumn, winter, spring

(Every Season – Song by Nichole Nordeman ‧ 2000)